Indices of population size for Burrowing mammals

There are few quick, precise indices for predicting population size of semifossorial mammals. We assessed the utility of powder-tracking and infrared thermal imaging to predict population size in the Aretic ground squirrel Spermophilus parryii) in the boreal forest of southwestern Yukon. Density estimated from livetrapping was strongly and linearly correlated with both indices (r = 0.81 for powder-tracking; r = 0.91 for infrared imaging). The slope of the relationship between density and the infrared index (0.10) deviated from a slope of 1, The slope of the relationship between density and the powder-tracking index (0.82) did not deviate from a slope of 1, but our power to detect departures from this slope using this index was low (0.10., We recommend infrared imaging and powder-tracking for monitoring population sizes of semifossorial mammals.